New Beauty Buys: L'Oreal True Match Foundation

I think I'm a tricky customer when it comes to foundation; I want it all, and I don't want to pay the earth for it. I want my foundation to have good glow, but not be too sheer, to have good coverage, but not be too thick or cakey, to blend well, have great staying power, and match my skintone as perfectly as possible. And ideally, I want it for less than a tenner. So it's fair to say that finding a formula that ticks every box is no mean feat.

However - I think I might have just found it. I've hopped alarmingly late onto the bandwagon, and fallen head over heels for L'Oreal's True Match foundation.

I've been using Bourjois' Healthy Mix for years now, and raved about it for just as long, but recently, I felt like it wasn't man enough for the task anymore. In my job, it's quite regular to get called into last-minute meetings or have to do after-work events, and I really don't like carting my entire makeup bag around every day, in case emergency touchups are required - I prefer products with real staying power. But increasingly, despite using primers, powders and setting sprays, I was finding that Healthy Mix was melting away to nothing very early in the day, especially on my nose and chin, leaving me with a patchy complexion and allowing redness or blemishes to shine through. It was time to take action...

The main thing that appealed to me about True Match was the idea that I could get a close-to-perfect skintone match. My Healthy Mix was in the palest shade but still came up quite yellow on my very fair, cool-toned skin. I didn't have any such issue with True Match; one swipe of Ivory Rose became undetectable almost immediately. I definitely have very pale, very cool skin with a pink undertone, and this foundation really is the ideal match - the colour is seamless between my jawline and my neck, with no chance of the dreaded tidemark!

True Match isn't pitched as a particularly longwearing foundation, but for me, I've found that it looks as fresh at 10pm as it did when I applied it at 7.30am. The formula is light, quite runny and feels like it would create a very sheer base, but I've found that a small amount blends beautifully on to the skin, to create a good level of medium coverage, hiding blemishes and redness in an instant. The finished effect isn't quite sheer and isn't quite matte either - it sits nicely in the middle, giving glow where you need it but keeping excess shine at bay. It just gives skin a fresh, healthy and wide-awake look, perfect for everyday.

I use my Real Techniques Buffing Brush to apply, over the L'Oreal Infallible Primer, and find that it blends very easily, taking only a few minutes to apply in the morning. I've never needed to touch up the foundation itself, just an extra dab of concealer or a refresh of powder later in the evening.

So basically, True Match ticks every single one of my boxes - even down to the fact that it's less than a tenner, usually around the £9.99 mark. What more could you want from a foundation?